Community Investment Guidelines

ZeroDivide seeks new or start-up phase community enterprises which will test a new or existing technology application, product or service within a specific market that will result in building community assets and/or increasing civic engagement in underserved communities.

We support two types of investments: Big Bets and Pipelines, however we only accept Letters of Inquiry for Pipeline Investments. Big Bet Investments are considered by invitation only.

We are looking for community enterprises which:

Are innovative, transformational, and entrepreneurial
Use mobile applications, wireless access, and social media technology to serve disadvantaged communities
Have a strategy for sustainability, specifically in the community assets we are looking for an earned-income strategy and in e-democracy we will consider other sustainability strategies such as income diversification or a new donor strategy
Are replicable and/or scalable
Have a clear technology-based product, service or application to test in a market
Have clear social impact objectives which are in line with ZeroDivide’s goals to build community economic assets and increase civic engagement in underserved communities.

Is my Organization the right fit for ZeroDivide?

Under our current investment strategy ZeroDivide is specifically looking for organizations that are interested in employing a social enterprise model. To help determine whether or not you may be the right type of investment for ZeroDivide, consider whether you meet the following criteria:

Our organization has an idea for an earned-income strategy that involved wireless, mobile and or social media technology, or we want to test a specific technology application to increase civic engagement in our community.
Our organization is willing to look at employing business practices to make the community enterprise successful, even if that means changing the way we do our accounting.
We are looking to engage with ZeroDivide beyond their financial investment. We welcome additional non-monetary assistance such as consulting, business planning, marketing strategy and technology technical assistance.
At the completion of our Pipeline investment we will have a business plan in place.
We are seeking to test this enterprise so that it can be replicated in other communities or scaled to a much larger enterprise.
We have a strong level of experience with the technology product, service, or application that we are seeking to utilize in our community enterprise.
We are a community-based organization and our idea was generated by and for the community we serve.

When to Apply?

ZeroDivide has no set deadlines for submitting a LOI and corresponding materials.

Given the nature of our funding process we receive and review applications on a rolling basis and award grants throughout the year.

Upon receipt of an LOI we will contact you within 6 weeks with the status of your request.

We do not Invest In:

Infrastructure only requests
Individuals
Ventures that do not incorporate one of the focused technologies identified by ZeroDivide
Ventures that do not have potential for self-sustainability
Cash requests for individual scholarships, fellowships or grants
Endowments
Organizations with operating deficits
For profit entities
Organizations that is not a 501c3 (note: nonprofits that are not a 501c3 but have a fiscal agent may be considered)